Mayer Brown’s ERISA fiduciary lawyers have significant experience in the following areas:

Structuring and Documenting Investment Products
Advice in Connection with Structuring of Institutional Investment Funds
Fiduciary Advice with respect to Trustee and Investment Management Services
Department of Labor Enforcement and Exemptions
Litigation Risks and Claims
Industry Knowledge

Structuring and Documenting Investment Products
The group regularly helps structure and negotiate a variety of investment products and transactions, including Liability-Driven Investment arrangements, mortgage loans, financial futures, international currency trading, securities lending, repurchase agreements, asset-backed securities, loan participation and international investments.

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Advice in Connection with Structuring of Institutional Investment Funds
The ERISA fiduciary group regularly advises real estate, private equity, infrastructure and hedge fund sponsors on the business and legal aspects of structuring investment funds which are targeted to ERISA and governmental pension plans and other institutional investors, including implications of the Department of Labor’s plan asset regulations and the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

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Fiduciary Advice with respect to Trustee and Investment Management Services
The group’s representation of financial institutions has included advice on compliance with fiduciary requirements under ERISA and state laws; the documentation of trust, investment management and other fiduciary relationships; advice on the fiduciary duties of directed trustees under a variety of circumstances; compliance with the prohibited transaction rules of ERISA; and statutory and administrative exemptions, including obtaining exemptions for financial services and products.

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Department of Labor Enforcement and Exemptions
The ERISA fiduciary practice regularly works with the Department of Labor on behalf of clients in connection with exemptions, interpretations of ERISA and enforcement matters. We have also defended numerous Department of Labor ERISA investigations on behalf of plans, sponsors, investment managers, other fiduciaries, and service providers. For example, we have represented a number of financial institutions in connection with the Department of Labor’s investigation into mutual fund market timing practices and its enforcement initiative against cross trading, and assisted in preparing comments to the Department of Labor on its class exemption for passive cross trading. Additionally, we have represented financial institutions in connection with exemptions for collective fund conversions to mutual funds, cross trading, investments by index funds in securities issued by the fund manager, the purchase of securities from an underwriting syndicate in which an affiliated broker is a member, the sale of asset-backed securities to plans, and loans to private investment funds that include plan limited partners, among others.

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Litigation Risks and Claims
The firm has a significant ERISA Litigation practice that has represented our fiduciary clients in connection with a wide range of private and Department of Labor claims. The firm’s ERISA attorneys have served on the defense team for a number of ERISA class actions involving ERISA plan investments and fee arrangements, including fee sharing arrangements. They have also assisted their fiduciary clients in establishing policies on ERISA and securities fraud class actions; evaluating their duties and potential liability exposure for investment losses resulting from investments in securities that are the subject of securities fraud claims and hedge fund investments that have gone bad.

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Industry Knowledge
Mayer Brown’s ERISA lawyers are actively involved in industry groups that support the business activities of our clients. Some of our lawyers are active members of the Pension Real Estate Association, and have served terms as chair of the Government Affairs Committee of PREA or editor of PREA’s “Washington Update” column. We also have a member of the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys who has served on an ISDA committee to develop form language for ISDA agreements involving ERISA counterparties and served on an LSTA committee to address ERISA issues in connection with the syndication of loans to ERISA investors. We have also represented various industry groups including the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers in connection with SEC regulations relating to the Investment Advisers Act, the Institutional Real Estate Clearinghouse with respect to the establishment of a secondary exchange for the trading of interests in private real estate funds, and the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) with respect to agreements for derivative products based on the widely used NCREIF Property Index.